reland’s history of institutionalisation means the country should
“know the consequences of pretending people don’t exist,” Colm
O’Gorman, the director of Amnesty International Ireland, has said.
He made the comment in relation
to trans right at the 20th anniversary of the decriminalisation of
homosexuality last Wednesday.
The event, which was held by Q
Soc as part of their “Allies’ Week”
festivities, celebrated the historic
involvement of LGBTQ allies in
the struggle for equality.
Speaking at the occasion,
O’Gorman stated that there are
“still significant challenges” to
be overcome by the LGBT community in areas such as children’s
rights and trans rights. In particular, he criticised the legal situation which means people “have
to give up on the idea of being a
parent” once their gender is recognised. He addressed the failure
of both law and culture to fully accept trans people in Ireland, while
praising the work done by organisations in Ireland such as BeLong
To and Front Line Defenders.
O’Gorman also discussed the significance of decriminalisation in
1993 and remarked that this year

coincides with the 30thanniversary of the first Irish pride march
in 1983, which took place in the
place in the wake of the homophobic murder of Declan Flynn
and controversial acquittal of
the gang members who had been
found guilty of his murder. 1983,
O’Gorman said, was “an extremely
isolating time”, when gay people
had few role models.
O’Gorman went on to welcome
the change in attitudes in recent
years and expressed confidence
that the upcoming referendum on
marriage equality would be won.
He described the 2009 March for
Marriage Equality and its impressive turnout as the moment he realised equal marriage was “inevitable”. However, he also discussed
his own personal frustration in
trying the go through the civil
partnership process and stressed
the importance of establishing legal precedents in a society often
resistant to change. The continued reluctance to “call it anything
but marriage” is disappointing, he
said.
Senator David Norris, who founded Q Soc in 1982 and was a major
figure of the Sexual Liberation
Movement in Ireland, also pre-

“

“Speaking at
the occasion,
O’Gorman stated
that there are
“still significant
challenges” to be
overcome by the
LGBT community
in areas such as
children’s rights
and trans rights.”

dicted that the referendum could
be won. The senator was unable
to attend the event but his letter
to students was read out by Katie Biggs, the society’s auditor. In
his correspondence, Norris, who
brought the decriminalisation
case to the European Court of
Human Rights in 1988, expressed
delight that there is now “a whole
generation of vital, positive, high
achieving and happy young people” among the LGBT community. Ciara Conway, Labour TD
for Waterford, was also scheduled
to speak at the event, but was unable to attend due to matters relating to the finance bill.
Q Soc celebrated its 30th year on
campus in a special commemorative event last year. It was established in 1982 as Trinity Gay Soc,
renamed LGBT Soc in 1994, and
rebranded in 2011 as recognition
of its members’ increasing diversity of sexuality and identity. In
an act of solidarity, the officers of
Trinity College Students’ Union
(TCDSU) acted as the society’s
first committee members, due
the reluctance of gay students
to become publicly visible at the
time.

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Unprecedented Cuts to Student Services
College Board waits five months to reveal landmark reductions to student service budgets
No student representation on planning group for Trinity’s next five years
No mention of cuts in minutes of College Board meetings where they were decided

T
Tommy Gavin
Deputy Editor

rinity College is set to cut funding
allocations for capitated bodies
in Trinity by 10% over two years,
with two annual cuts of 5%. As
outlined in a draft budget document obtained by Trinity News,
there will be a reduction of nearly
¤60,000 in overall allocations for
Dublin University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC), the Central Societies Committee (CSC),
the Trinity College Students
Union (TCDSU), the Graduate
Students Union (GSU) and Trinity Publications; which includes
Trinity News. Each capitated
body has representatives on the
Capitations Committee, which is
chaired by the Senior Dean Prof
Moray McGowan.
The money in the capitations
budget comes from the annual
student contribution charge, otherwise known as the registration
fee which is paid by all students,
undergraduate and postgraduate.
Before 2002, students paid a direct “capitation fee” which went
straight to the capitated bodies
for the provision of services and
extra-curricular activities for
students. This was streamlined
into and made part of the overall
registration fee in 2002, though
with the same amount of money
going to the Capitation Committee. Sources within the committee acknowledge that they were
expecting cuts, but along the lines
of 3-5%, not 10% over two years
which they say are “precedent
setting.”
The cuts had been decided during a meeting on the 26th of
June 2013 of the Planning Group
which meets fortnightly. They

“

“There is no
strategic plan for
student services,
the student
experience or the
capitations
process.”
- SU President
Tom Lenihan
are responsible for implementing
and developing the Strategic Plan
2014-2019 of the College, though
there is no student representation
in the group. The Strategic Plan
2014-2019 is focused on attracting more students from outside
Ireland, “harnessing the disruptive potential of technology in delivering education,” and rebranding the college. Minutes from the
June meeting under the heading
“Planning Group Report No. 9”
note that the College requires
“further income to meet its expenditure,” and that Schools are
being asked to “deliver more programmes with less resources.” It
makes no mention of reductions
to capitated bodies. Senior Dean
Prof McGowan was neither at the

meeting nor is he on the Planning
Group. The cuts were disclosed in
an email from Prof McGowan who
noted that he received “no formal
notification of the decision” until
the 14th of November, and that it
was one of many financial decisions made during the June meeting under recommendation of the
Planning Group.
Minutes from the Finance Committee Meeting of 19 September
2013 reference Planning Group
Report No. 9 and note that “budgets had been communicated to
Schools and Administrative and
Support Areas, with a detailed
breakdown of planned expenditure to be provided by each are
over the coming weeks,” but they
also make no mention of cuts to
capitated bodies. In real terms,
DUCAC is to be reduced by
17,690, CSC reduced by ¤17,916,
TCDSU reduced by ¤16,229, GSU
cut by ¤2,998 and Publications by
¤2,423. Sources in the capitated
bodies have told Trinity News the
lack of any kind of consultation
or communication is the most insulting aspect of the cuts, as they
were revealed five months after
they were decided, which massively unsettles their own internal
budgeting. Similar sentiments are
found throughout the academic
environment, as department
heads are increasingly feeling
alienated from decision making
processes and strategy within
the College. Speaking to Trinity
News, President of the Graduate
Students’ Union Ryan Kenny said
that “one of our biggest projects
every year is Postgraduate Orientation Week,” the success of which

is noted in the appendix to the
minutes of the June 26 meeting.
“Over the last two years, the GSU
has developed a comprehensive
orientation programme for postgrads. This welcomes thousands
of newly-arrived postgrads to
College every year, and is organised and delivered solely by the
GSU. In other words, the College
relies on the GSU to make good
on its commitment to provide an
adequate orientation to the students. This year, our orientation
programme cost us about 5% of
our annual budget - precisely the
amount we stand to lose for the
coming year.”
Students Union President Tom
Lenihan said that “the decision
taken is a cynical one, and was
taken without students’ consultation. That is very worrying
because the Higher Education
Authority (HEA), in their framework for the allocation of student
services, emphasise the need for
student representation and identify them as a key stakeholder. If
we’re going to talk about good
governance in Trinity, we need to
include key stakeholders. There is
no strategic plan for student services, the student experience or
the capitations process.”
Trinity News has learned that the
capitations committee has sent a
letter to board, outlining their opposition to the cuts and to having
been excluded from the decision
making process. Trinity News has
also learned that the Students Union has sought legal consultation
on the matter.